The Container Exercise

Not everything has to be dealt with now. The Container is one of the core stabilisation exercises in EMDR therapy. In this guided practice you build, in your imagination, a container strong enough to hold what is too much for today, and you close it, knowing it can be opened later, with support. Bilateral stimulation, gentle sound moving from ear to ear, helps the sense of containment settle in the body. Please use headphones, as the left and right movement is lost without them.
This is a stabilisation exercise from EMDR therapy, designed to be learned with a therapist and practised between sessions. It is not therapy and does not replace treatment. If it brings up strong feelings or memories, stop, open your eyes and come back to the room. Part of Soft Cadence, a series of EMDR-informed meditations for sleep, anxiety, breathing, focus and emotional balance. Created by Begüm Engür, Clinical Psychologist & European Accredited EMDR Therapist.

Transcript

Welcome to the container exercise with bilateral stimulation. This technique is incredibly useful for people having difficulty handling distress and stressful situations in life. Let's begin. While doing this exercise, I want you to pay attention to the bilateral stimulation in the background. And notice how you're feeling through. So I invite you right now to really take a very deep breath in. And let it out. Really a nice deep breath. Inhale. And exhale. And maybe lean back in your chair. And just take a moment. Close your eyes. And take another deep breath. And bring into your awareness that you will be learning a technique that will help you to manage difficult emotions. So you can do this exercise with your eyes open or closed. Sometimes it's easier to visualize things with your eyes closed, But it's totally up to you. So, I would like to invite you to bring to mind a container. This container can be any size you want it to be. It can look like anything you'd like it to look like. Just make sure that it has a little It's a closeable container. And it will be accessible. We are using our imagination, So excess can be imaginary too. But we will be bringing to mind a container as well as a place to keep this container. So I'm going to be quiet for now. A little moment. And invites you to really visualize. A container that can safely hold your difficult feelings. Difficult memories Good thoughts. Difficult bodily sensations. Overwhelming events. So really picture what this container looks like. Imagine what it is made of. What color it is. Or texture it has on it. What shape it has. How big it is. And such. Just make sure that it has a safe, Secure lid and a lock. And now. Take a moment. And imagine putting into this container all the difficulties. And negative feelings. Emotions. Thoughts. Bodily sensations that you may be having. You can put into this container. Any difficult memories? Memories that haunt you or trouble you. And just really take a moment. And picture gathering all of that. I'm putting into the container. If you need more time to do this. You can always pause the recording and take the time you need. If you feel that you have put all your difficult emotions, Thoughts, Feelings, And emotions bodily sensations. Memories. Oldest dressers. If you could picture putting all these into that container. Let's go ahead. Hose the lead. And lock it. And now, I'd like you to think of where you'd like to store this container. And picture yourself storing the container there. How do you feel now? How is your body? Good. Now, We put things into a container to help ourselves function during those time periods when we don't need to be overwhelmed by the difficult emotions and thoughts. They will be stored there as long as you need. I walked you through the exercise fairly quickly. It's a quick exercise. But I would invite you to practice it daily.